Quote:
Originally Posted by odinthor
Found this "then and now" pic on Pinterest of the 500 block of Ceres Avenue looking to where it intersects Central:
Pinterest
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Two pictures worth a 1000 words
The old photo directly above looks like it was taken in San Francisco. The new photo, at top in the same location, maybe Bakersfield, a bad section at that. While parts of Los Angeles have improved, many sections have retrogressed. It is now difficult to say for sure that our urban fabric, overall, is better than in old "noirish" days. Human behavior, manners, courtesy and dress have in fact gotten courser, less civilized, as has the number of people living and dying on our streets, and our crass indifference to these lost souls as we look the other way.
Is it possible that peak civilization and civility is behind us, not only in Los Angeles, but most places around the world (Ukraine and the mass shootings being the most shocking and egregious examples)? Civilization is marked by the following of basic rules and some predictability in behavior and human interactions. Usually these rules are based on reciprocity, the "golden rule" of treating others as you would want to be be treated. Now we have behavioral anarchy and unpredictability, and less or no trust in people we don't know.
Can we all somehow return to civility and kindness in our individual interactions and ultimately international relations? It is a decision we all can make, and count on others to "pay it forward". Of couse evil exists, and must be confronted. I am not particularly religious, nor am not a church member, but I believe in reciprocity, in pay it forward. I gave a sad elderly homeless woman sitting on a sidewalk by her cart $10 today, and you should have seen her smile at a basic kindness. Her smile was worth the $10, the price of a latte, and I felt good all day. I told her to pay it forward. She promised she would, and maybe she will, or at least tell her friends what some stranger did for her.
We cannot change society, and all those we help may not help others,
but we can change ourselves, and if enough of us do, maybe these ripples of kindness we will return us to civility bit by bit. If you can't afford spare change or a few bills for a person in need, at least smile or nod and say "good morning" to a stranger you pass on the street. Offer an elderly person your seat on the train. Little things, multiplied by the millions, may bend us back towards civility